Energy Services

  • | | | | |

    Energy Transfer Breaks Silence on ND Criminal Protesters, Obama

    We have, for some months, reported on the so-called protesters in North Dakota protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. They are in actuality paid thugs and criminals (see Police Remove Pipeline Protesting THUGS from Private Land in ND). It is not, as the media has lied, some small band of Indians who object to a pipeline crossing ancient burial grounds. That is 100% false. The reason we have warned you about them is because the very same paid thugs have threatened to come to the Marcellus/Utica region next (see Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Turn Violent; Coming Here Next?). In fact, it has already begun (see Dakota Access Pipeline Radicals Protest in…Scranton?). Energy Transfer, the company building the pipeline, has been extremely restrained in their public comments about these thugs. Until now. On Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing titled, “Modernizing Energy and Electricity Delivery Systems: Challenges and Opportunities to Promote Infrastructure Improvement and Expansion.” One of the speakers was Joey Mahmoud, Project Director for the Dakota Access Pipeline. His testimony (full copy below) lays bear the truth of what has been happening. Did you know that the so-called protesters attacked pipeline personnel–putting one person in the hospital? Did you know they stole or damaged MILLIONS of dollars worth of equipment? That they tried to bomb a bridge and that a bomb did go off, ripping the arm off one of the protesters (i.e. eco-terrorits)? And did you know that of the 660 protesters who have been arrested, 94% of them were not from North Dakota? Mahmoud lays it all out in his compelling testimony. Folks, this is what we may be up against in the near future here in our neighborhood–a well-financed attempt to overthrow our peaceful government with eco-violence…
    Read More “Energy Transfer Breaks Silence on ND Criminal Protesters, Obama”

  • | | | | | |

    PTT Global Delays Final Investment Decision for OH Ethane Cracker

    PTT Global Chemical, based in Thailand, announced in April 2015 they are interested in building a $5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). Last May a story in the Bangkok Post said the final investment decision (FID) will definitely come in 2017, but they called the decision “delayed.” PTT disagreed with that assessment (see PTT Global Says Belmont, OH Ethane Cracker NOT Delayed). Last December Belmont County officials said the FID would come by the end of March (see OH Cracker Final Decision Coming Soon, Site Now Cleared & Ready). The disappointing news is that PTT now says the FID won’t come until “late 2017,” which is “several months later than we originally announced.” So yes, it appears the Bangkok Post story was right after all. PTT vice president Toasaporn Boonyapipat, head of the company’s North American operations, released a statement on Tuesday to update everyone on the project timeline. State and local officials were quick to try and tamp down speculation that PTT is having second thoughts about the Belmont cracker…
    Read More “PTT Global Delays Final Investment Decision for OH Ethane Cracker”

  • |

    Williams 2016 Results: Northeast Revenue Up 11.5%

    Williams released its fourth quarter and full year 2016 update yesterday. CEO Alan Armstrong reports “strong” 8% year-over-year growth for the company. Williams operates nationwide, but our primary area of interest is, of course, the northeast. The company reports the northeast operation’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) was $840 million in 2016, up from $753 million in 2015 (an 11.5% increase). Below is the update, along with the latest PowerPoint slide deck used on an analyst call, and the latest Williams “Data Book,” loaded with lots of great details about their various pipeline systems…
    Read More “Williams 2016 Results: Northeast Revenue Up 11.5%”

  • |

    Weatherford Tries to Dig Out of Debt – $2.5B Securities Offering

    Weatherford International is the fourth largest oilfield services company in the world, employing some 44,000 people. They have a branch office in Canonsburg, PA (Pittsburgh area) with major operations in the Marcellus/Utica. Since November we’ve highlighted the financial problems at the company (see our Weatherford stories here). On Monday, after trading hours, Weatherford filed a $2.5 billion mixed securities shelf registration. What the heck is that? According to Wikipedia, “Shelf registration…is a type of public offering where certain issuers are allowed to offer and sell securities to the public without a separate prospectus for each act of offering. Instead, there is a single prospectus for multiple, undefined future offerings.” Weatherford asked the Securities and Exchange Commission if it can offer (1) 84.5 million new units (i.e. shares) at a proposed maximum offering price of $6.43 per unit to raise $543 million, and (2) offer up to $2 billion in debt or equity securities. One analyst believes the company is around $4 billion in the hole. This is an attempt to claw its way out of that hole…
    Read More “Weatherford Tries to Dig Out of Debt – $2.5B Securities Offering”

  • | | | | | | |

    Maya & Friends Sue (Once Again) to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipe

    Mariner East 2 map – click for larger version

    Well that didn’t take long. On Monday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued their final water and erosion permits to Sunoco Logistics to build the 306-mile Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline (see Finally! PA DEP Issues Final Permits for Mariner East 2 Pipeline). Even though anti-drilling radicals, like Maya van Rossum (THE Delaware Riverkeeper), the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council and the Mountain Watershed Association have repeatedly sued (and lost) to stop the project, they sued again on Monday following the DEP announcement. The three groups filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, a special type of court set up to hear appeals of decisions by the DEP. In an interview, Miss Maya lashed out at her own party, blaming Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf for supporting the pipeline project. She is, of course, on the leftmost fringe of the environmental movement–no pipeline anywhere for any reason is acceptable because pipelines flow evil fossil fuels. But you can’t just file a lawsuit to stop a pipeline because you have batty beliefs about them. You need an excuse, something a liberal judge can use as justification to grant your wish. In the case of Miss Maya & friends, they claim Mariner East 2 provided an “incomplete and deficient” application, and that by granting the permits, the DEP is covering up and/or ignoring the deficient application…
    Read More “Maya & Friends Sue (Once Again) to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipe”

  • | |

    Williams Creates COO Position for Former Warren Buffet Exec

    Midstream (i.e. pipeline) giant Williams has just created a brand new executive position–Chief Operating Officer (COO). The position was created for Micheal G. Dunn, formerly president of Questar Pipeline and executive vice president of Questar Corporation. Does Questar ring a bell? It should. Questar is, or rather was, a Rockies-based integrated natural gas company operating through three principal subsidiaries. In an attempt to diversify out of the northeast, Dominion bought Questar in September for $4.4 billion (see $4.4B Dominion-Questar Merger Happens Tomorrow). Somehow Dominion let Dunn, who once worked for Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy, slip through their fingers when buying Questar. Dominion’s loss is now Williams’ gain…
    Read More “Williams Creates COO Position for Former Warren Buffet Exec”

  • |

    FTS Intl, NA’s Largest Private Well Completion Co, Going Public

    FTS International is the largest private (no publicly traded stock) well completion company in North America. In 2015 FTS fracked EQT’s ginormous Scotts Run 591340 dry Utica well in Greene County, PA producing an initial production (IP) of 72.9 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (see Private Company Fracked EQT’s Monster Utica Well, Working on More). That well is still the reigning champion for highest initial production. However, a year ago FTS sold off their sand hauling business and laid off over 40 people (see FTS Intl Fires All Drivers & Mechanics in Sand Hauling Business). FTS euphemistically called it “adjusting head count.” If you’ve ever been “adjusted,” you know how it lousy it feels. We mentioned that FTS is the largest *private* well completion company in North America. That’s about to change. Last week FTS filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, declaring its intent to raise $100 million via an initial public offering…
    Read More “FTS Intl, NA’s Largest Private Well Completion Co, Going Public”

  • | | | | | |

    Editorial: No University of Pittsburgh, Period

    We have a concern about the kind of education being offered by the very high-priced University of Pittsburgh. What are the professors actually teaching to those young skulls full of mush? Judging by the kinds of editorials coming from the student-run Pitt News newspaper, we’d have a big concern about the education (or rather, miseducation) coming from Pitt, especially if we were parents of students at Pitt. In today’s editorial, titled “No Mariner East II pipeline, period.”, the writers actually, fantastically say this: “But as our levels of dependency on oil combined with estimates of what’s left in the earth come to a head in the next few decades, investing in infrastructure to increase our fossil fuel consumption is both unwise and irresponsible.” Are these young people just really stupid? Or have they been miseducated? Do they not know that the same flawed, “We’re going to run out of fossil fuels any decade now” thinking has been around for the past 40+ years? And that we have MORE supplies of fossil fuels today than we thought possible just a decade ago? The entire editorial is a rail against Mariner East 2, and against all pipelines, because they flow fossil fuels. This is nuttery. And frankly, it’s not acceptable from so-called “educated” students at a reputable university. We think an investigation should be launched into how this sort of obviously flawed thinking can happen at a place like Pitt…
    Read More “Editorial: No University of Pittsburgh, Period”

  • | | | | | |

    Finally! PA DEP Issues Final Permits for Mariner East 2 Pipeline

    Mariner East 2 Pipeline – click for larger version

    Game, set and match. Finally, after five circuses, er, a, public hearings, and 29,000 form letter comments, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has issued the final Chp. 105 (Water Obstruction and Encroachment) and Chp. 102 (Erosion and Sediment Control) permits for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project. PA has cleared the project to begin construction–there are no more permits required from PA. However, before the bulldozers start, there is one remaining hurdle: permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which under President Trump, is a foregone conclusion). Mariner East 2, as a reminder, is a $2.5 billion, 306-mile natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will run from eastern Ohio through the state of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. It will flow mostly ethane, but also propane and butane. There have been numerous legal battles and roadblocks thrown up by some of the townships along the route–but that’s now behind us. Oh, there’s still a few troublemakers (see Towns Near Philly Collude with CAC to Block Mariner East 2 Pipe?), but their troublemaking will go nowhere. This has been a long time coming, and a cause to celebrate…
    Read More “Finally! PA DEP Issues Final Permits for Mariner East 2 Pipeline”

  • | | | | | |

    PennEast Pipeline Gets 401 Water Quality Certificate from PA DEP

    PennEast Pipeline proposed route – click for larger version

    PennEast Pipeline is reporting a major milestone in getting their project approved: the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection last Friday awarded the pipeline a 401 Federal Clean Water Act “Water Quality Certification.” PennEast is a $1 billion, 118-mile, primarily 36-inch pipeline that will get built from Dallas (Luzerne County), PA to Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington (Mercer County), NJ. Although the PA DEP’s water certificate is certainly good news, it comes not long after a continuing cloud over the project–yet another delay by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see FERC Delays PennEast Pipeline Final Review – Again). FERC was supposed to issue a final environmental assessment for PennEast last August. Then it got changed to December. Then it got changed to this month, February. There will almost certainly be a fourth delay as there are now not enough FERC Commissioners to vote on the assessment (since Norman Bay quit in a huff, see FERC Commissioner Resigns Threatening Major M-U Pipeline Projects). However, for now, let’s revel in the current good news for the project…
    Read More “PennEast Pipeline Gets 401 Water Quality Certificate from PA DEP”

  • |

    Seventy Seven Energy 2016: Still Bleeding, Just Not as Much

    Seventy Seven Energy (SSE) is the former Chesapeake Oilfield Operating company, the oilfield services subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy that Chessy spun out into its own company in July 2014 after it couldn’t find anyone to buy it (see Long Labor & Delivery: Seventy Seven Energy Born Yesterday). It was an ill-fated venture from the beginning. SSE never turned a profit after becoming its own company. In June 2016, SSE, which has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica, filed for bankruptcy, then emerged from bankruptcy two months later borrowing $100 million (see Seventy Seven Energy Pops Out of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 2 Mos.). In the third quarter of last year, the red ink continued to flow, with SSE losing $36.5 million. SSE finally had enough and threw in the towel. In December, Patterson-UTI Energy, another oilfield services company with major operations in the northeast, cut a deal to buy out and merge in SSE in an all-stock deal worth $1.76 billion (see Seventy Seven Energy Throws in the Towel, Sells to Paterson-UTI). However, that deal is not yet done and won’t be until mid-year this year. In the meantime, SSE has just released its fourth quarter and full year 2016 update. And yes, the red ink continued to flow, although not was fast as it was…
    Read More “Seventy Seven Energy 2016: Still Bleeding, Just Not as Much”

  • | | | |

    PennEast Pipeline Calls THE Dela. Riverkeeper & Sierra Club Liars

    Click for larger version

    It’s about time the gloves came off and we started hitting back–hard. Kudos to PennEast for calling a spade a spade. In an announcement released Friday, PennEast Pipeline did everything but use the word “liar” in reference to the lies and propaganda being spread by Maya van Rossum (THE Delaware Riverkeeper) and her compatriots at the New Jersey Sierra Club. But we can tell you, the sentiment is there, loud and clear. PennEast is taking the gloves off and fighting back against outright lies coming from anti-drilling zealots, calling their screeds “false information” and “misinformation” and “flat-out false” with respect to a lie being spread about an alternate route for PennEast route through central Bucks County…
    Read More “PennEast Pipeline Calls THE Dela. Riverkeeper & Sierra Club Liars”

  • | | | | |

    Antis Ask FERC to Block Dalton Expansion Project, Using Greek Pipe

    Click for larger version

    In March 2015, Williams announced that its Transco pipeline subsidiary had filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its Dalton Expansion Project, which will expand the Transco and flow more Marcellus Shale gas from New Jersey all the way to Mississippi, primarily for electric generation plants, but also for local natural gas distribution by utilities (see Williams Files with FERC to Expand Transco Pipeline from NJ to MS). Most of the Dalton project will be built in, and benefit, the State of Georgia, by delivering natural gas to an existing electric generating facility in northern Georgia operated by Oglethorpe Power Corp., delivering gas for local distribution company Atlanta Gas Light, and delivering gas for the City of Cartersville. Transco has customers signed up under binding contracts for 100% of the Dalton Expansion Project, which will increase Transco’s capacity by 448,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas. FERC approved the Dalton Project last summer (see Marcellus/Utica Gas Heading to Georgia via FERC-Approved Pipeline). Antis are now attempting to use a creative new way to stop construction. They noticed that some of the pipe being used came from Greece, so they’re asking FERC to stop the project because it doesn’t use American-made pipeline…
    Read More “Antis Ask FERC to Block Dalton Expansion Project, Using Greek Pipe”

  • | | | | | |

    Antis Go Batty in Effort to Stop Ohio’s NEXUS Pipeline

    Last week we pointed out that of all the major pipeline projects we had hoped the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) would approve before Norman Bay quit the Commission in a huff, that NEXUS (runs through Ohio) did not get a go-ahead (see In FERC’s Game of Musical Chairs, NEXUS Pipeline Left Standing). We don’t expect it will take too long before FERC is back up to three or more Commissioners–a quorum–and can then authorize NEXUS. Antis are concerned about that too. So they’re looking for other ways to block the pipeline, hoping if they block it long enough, they can kill it. The latest tactic is nothing new–antis are saying since NEXUS is now delayed, the pipeline won’t be able to clear trees in time to beat a deadline of March 31. After that date you then must wait until October 1st. Why? To avoid killing any northern long-earned bats–which happen to be on the threatened and endangered species list. Antis make no bones about it–they earnestly hope the final NEXUS OK to begin construction comes too late in the season to finish tree clearing. NEXUS maintains the pipeline will be built and in-service by the end of this year…
    Read More “Antis Go Batty in Effort to Stop Ohio’s NEXUS Pipeline”

  • | | | | |

    Williams Cuts Deal to Increase Ownership in NEPA Pipeline System

    In the midstream (i.e. pipeline) world, it seems like nobody owns 100% of anything. Big midstream companies like Williams and Kinder Morgan (and others) are composed of subsidiaries and (sometimes) MLPs–master limited partnerships. And beyond the companies within companies (like a Russian nesting doll), often pieces of pipeline systems are co-owned with other companies, even competitors! In 2014 Williams bought out Access Midstream, the renamed and former division of Chesapeake Energy called Chesapeake Midstream (see Big News: Williams Partners Buying Access Midstream for $6B). When Williams bought Access, one of the regional pipeline gathering systems it got as part of that deal is what Williams calls the Bradford Supply Hub (named after Bradford County, PA). Yesterday Williams announced a deal with a part-owner for portions of the Bradford Supply Hub, Western Gas, to buy out Western’s portion. Through an elaborate deal, Williams gets Western’s 33.75% ownership stake in what is called the Rome and Liberty natural gas gathering systems (part of the Bradford Supply Hub), along with a check for $155 million. In return, Williams is transferring to Western its 50% ownership stake in the Delaware Basin JV Gathering pipeline system, located along the New Mexico/Texas border…
    Read More “Williams Cuts Deal to Increase Ownership in NEPA Pipeline System”

  • |

    Patterson-UTI Energy 2016 Update – $319M Loss

    Each month MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for when/if the drop in rig counts for the Marcellus/Utica will turn around. Patterson operates a number of rigs in the northeast, as well as other areas of the continental United States (and Canada). Patterson’s rig count kept sinking month by month until June 2016 when things turned around. Since last June, Patterson has reactived and began running new rigs (higher rig count) in each successive month. Just last week Patterson released their numbers for January and once again it was good news (see Patterson-UTI Jan Rig Count – Continues to Climb). However, financially speaking it’s not all butterflies and unicorns for Patterson. Yesterday the company released its fourth quarter and full year 2016 numbers. Patterson lost $78 million in 4Q16 (compared with losing $59 million in 4Q15), and lost $319 million for all of 2016 (vs. losing $294 million for all of 2015). Looming on the horizon is Patterson’s buyout of, and merger in, of Seventy Seven Energy (see Seventy Seven Energy Throws in the Towel, Sells to Paterson-UTI). Seventy Seven Energy (SSE) is the old Chesapeake Oilfield Operating company–spun out into a standalone company. It never did make any money, from the moment it became a standalone company. Patterson hopes by combining SSE into its own operation, they will spin some gold from straw–the straw being that both companies now lose money. They hope (gamble?) is, of course, that with a pickup in drilling, Patterson’s fortunes will change. Here’s yesterday’s update…
    Read More “Patterson-UTI Energy 2016 Update – $319M Loss”